The World of Ideological Blindness

The facts, of course, are undeniable. As we learned at the Chiaroscuro Foundation press conference last month, 41% of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion; 48% in the Bronx; 60% among African-Americans; almost 90,000 total. It’s hard to imagine that anyone with a shred of humanity could be satisfied with these facts.

Of course, this is New York, a world unto itself, where abortion ideology always seems to trump reality. Instead of trying to come up with ways to reduce the number of abortions, what is the government of the City of New York doing?

The City Council is bent on passing Intro 371, a bill that would make more difficult the work of crisis pregnancy centers — agencies that offer women real help for their pregnancy and child-bearing. How can you expect to reduce abortions if you won’t allow people to present alternatives?

The City Council is wasting time and energy passing resolutions calling on Congress to keep shoveling taxpayer money at Planned Parenthood — the evil organization that aborts over 300,000 children every year and has no apparent interest in making abortion rare.

The Mayor, who was silent about the abortion rate, instead found time to endorse full funding for Planned Parenthood, and he is expected to sign into law the bill that penalizes crisis pregnancy centers for their pro-life views.

The Public Advocate, who only seems to be able to advocate for those who have had the good fortune to have been born, denounced the billboard in Manhattan that committed the terrible sin of speaking the truth about abortion among African-Americans.

The Speaker of the Council, who is the driving force behind Intro 371 and the pro-Planned Parenthood resolutions, found the time to have a rally in support of unrestricted abortion rights, and in opposition to any kind of reduction in public funding for abortion.

Despite the evidence of horrors at an unlicensed abortion clinic in Philadelphia, our Department of Health continues to do absolutely nothing to inspect unlicensed clinics here in the City.

All this ignores the sentiments of normal New Yorkers. A new poll from the Chiaroscuro Foundation shows that most people are very uncomfortable with the abortion rate:

64% of all New Yorkers think that there are too many abortions in the City;

57% of women who describe themselves as “pro-choice” agree that there are too many abortions;

74% believe that there are too many African-American babies being aborted;

81% of New Yorkers had no idea how many abortions were taking place;

Majorities of New Yorkers favor common sense regulations of abortion — waiting periods (51%) and parental consent for minors seeking abortion (63%) — that have repeatedly been blocked by the State Legislature.

In the real world, where democracy exists, these facts would be an indicator of a substantial disconnect between the electorate and those who hold public office. Elsewhere in America, politicians are loth to be opposed to public opinion. In normal places, legislators enact reasonable regulations on abortion, knowing that most people find the practice distasteful or morally unacceptable.

But this is New York, the land of ideological blindness, where abortion holds a privileged status. Here, it is sad to say, the commitment to abortion is so deeply ingrained in our political class that no facts, and no public opinion, seem to be able to penetrate.

As a result, four out of every ten babies will continue to be killed in the womb, while our public officials will go on turning a blind eye to the tragedy.

This entry was posted
on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 at 1:23 am and is filed under Abortion, Cult of Moloch.
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2 Responses to “The World of Ideological Blindness”

If New York Catholics stood together in large numbers to publicly support anti-abortion legislation and the general anti-Catholic media bias, maybe then the politicians would have a change of heart and promote laws to ensure the right to life at all stages.